Sustainable cooking

Atmospheric Nitrates Can Increase Forest Fires

Due to Nitrate saturated agricultural fields our atmosphere has a historically large amounts of nitrate “runoff “ (which is the term even if it is air born excess) is contributing to quicker growing forests and under brush. This increased growth has a positive effect of using up more CO2, a green house gas, but on the negative side the denser growth also contributes to forest fire dangers.

This is a good representation of the complexities of peoples effect on the world. On one hand the nitrates seem to help decrease the green house gasses, but in the long run the exacerbation of forest fires which increases green house gasses, and in turn creates more nitrate runoff. Nitrate runoff comes from agricultural nitrates as well as a small amount from burning fossil fuels.

More on the new menu

A menu remake for the twenty first century

The traditional menu which most people use today, grew up with the industrial revolution. Created before the time proteins became cheap and plentiful, our desire for them was created by scarcity, making the dense calories desirable. Now, when balance is important, for our environment and our health, it is time to rethink the structure of the menu. The focus on meats as the primary component of a dish is backwards.

As our bodies evolved with hunting and gathering, then agriculture, the main sustenance we needed were fruits and vegetables. The denser proteins, meat, were eaten in celebrations or seasonal harvesting due to the tremendous resources used in providing them, either in the human energy of hunting, or of crop production for livestock.

Dwindling resources, whether in energy, natural resources, or land make us need go back to eating habits from before industrial food production. There are many limiting factors in food production. Even something as essential to plant growth as potassium has a natural supply limit. In the 1920’s a German scientist was able to synthesize nitrogen, a previously limited resource, which enabled our agricultural industry to bloom with apparently no limits Its creation, however, is extremely energy intensive and will be limited by the cost or availablility of energy. No such advancement has been made with phosporous, another major building block for plant growth. The first of the natural resources, used in food production, that’s limit will be reached soon is oil, due to either availability or expense of environmental impact.

On the nutritional side, our bodies still crave the dense energy provided by proteins to satisfy an energetic life of hunting, gathering or working with livestock or crops. Even in the beginning of industrialization, factory work was very strenuous and burned off many calories. It was very difficult for people to eat enough sustain the energy needed to get through a day, so calories were fully used. In the modern day, an energetic life style rarely creates the need for more than 3 or 4 ounces of proteins, never mind all the increase of carbohydrates in our diet. Portion sizes have increased as the energy out put of people has decreased. It takes up to 7 times as much energy to create edible calories from meat than it does for fruits or vegetables so a vegetarian diet is much more efficient than a primarily carnivorous diet in food production.

Another factor in diets is whole grains have been replaced by refined products, reducing the amount of fiber in our diets. The fiber helps digest unneeded fats and keep the digestive tract and the blood stream cleaner, as well as provide for many other. nutrients needed for our diet. We also have increased the amount of carbohydrates eaten in our diet, much of which comes from liquids, such as soda’s and fruit drinks. These carbs are not processed by the body in the same way as solid carbs. This is especially true of High Fructose Corn Syrup. Combined with larger and larger portion sizes and we have a great recipe for obesity and diabetes.

Fortunately the solution for both of these problems is simple, though a seed change in society must take place for it to succeed. If you eat healthy, it will help the environment. Less meat and processed foods, and more whole grains are the key. Large portions of meats should be reserved for celebrations, not day today life. It is more important for us to think about what fruits and vegetables we eat than the protein.

Our new menu reflects this by giving vegetarian foundation plates as the start of building a meal. On top of this we offer sides of proteins and vegetarian add ons, to create as elaborate a meal as is desired. This allows for an inexpensive healthy meal that most people can afford, but also a tasty celebratory meal as well.

We also feature some creative dishes with whole grains, like our vegetarian chili using wheat berries, and our Mediterranean salad using kamut. We also feature some more traditional café faire like pot pies, soups and salad, using 85% organic fruits and vegetables, heratige and/or humanely treated meats, and rocky junior chickens. All of our pastries are made with organic flour and our chocolate is declared to be slave labor free. We try to achieve all this in a delicious, homey way. Soon we will even offer family style meals which reflect this idealism as well.

Global Warmings Silver Lining: Hope for the affluent.

It seems more and more often people are beginning to herald global warming as a positive thing. Lower heating bills for the northern or southern most hemisphere’s, nitrogen emissions from cars helping forests productivity. The list could be pages long, but the advantages are only going to be seen by those who can afford to adapt. When global food supplies are effected by drought, disease, depleted oceans diminishing land resources it is those just barely surviving that will bear the brunt.

To whale or not to whale

Whether it is nobler to curse the whale with the slings and arrows suffered by the largest land mammal in favor of a few struggling economies or to save for generations ahead the largest and most majestic aquatic animal.

As many countries are trying to legalize whale hunting, we should look at the ivory market for guidance. Many species of Elephants are on the brink of extinction or have become extinct due to similar problems facing whales.

Both have long gestation periods, and need expansive ranges to live in, so these species are highly vulnerable to man’s exploits. Diminishing land is a major factor in the elephants case, while diminishing food supplies are a major issue for the whales. Both are subject to a large amount of poaching as well.

The major difference is that we live in the terrestrial world with the elephant, but are unfamiliar with the whales aquatic world. We know very little about their environment, habits and needs. Its difficult to get a firm grip on what the present population of half the whale species in our oceans.

This makes it impossible to identifying when the whale population starts to diminish. If whaling is legalized in more countries we will have a hard time discerning illegal whale meat from legal whale meat. Unlike the case of marijuana, where supply would be plentiful if legalized, the whale meat would always be scarce, and there for be at a premium price. Presently whale meat sells for $100 per pound in Asia. Unless it is easy to identify the difference between legal whale meat and illegal whale meat, then a black market would thrive even more when the ban is lifted.

 Up to 5% of African elephant population is being poached right now. Other herds are extinct or in extreme danger of extinction. The difficulties of policing the oceans, with no national boundaries is exponentially more difficult than attempting this on land.

The only way of trying to stop poaching from happening is to limit the demand of the product as was shown with the ban on ivory in the late ‘80s which decreased poaching dramatically. The black market on ivory has grown recently due to wars, poverty and lack of focus by governments.

There is even a question as to what a reasonable level the whale population should be. A scientist recently discovered, through DNA, traditional whale populations were huge compared to the present populations. Unfortunately it would seem that our harvesting and polluting the oceans would make a return to those numbers impossible, leaving the long term survival of whales in doubt.